Due to stringent fire prevention standards for underground mining operations promulgated and enforced by the U.S. Department of Labor's Mine Safety and Health Administration (“MSHA”), conveyor belts for underground mining must be suitably fire-resistant. To that end, halogenated compositions, e.g., chlorinated compositions, are known to be useful in rubber compounds for providing conveyor belts with fire-resistance that meets or exceeds MSHA standards. However, while halogenated compositions may be suitable fire retardants, such compositions disadvantageously release toxic, caustic, and/or corrosive fumes and/or undesirable levels of smoke upon burning. Those by-products can be particularly dangerous and potentially lethal to miners in the relatively closed confines of an underground mine. Thus, in addition to fire resistance, the harmful fumes and smoke of halogenated rubber compounds, which may be generated upon burning, need to be sufficiently addressed, particularly when those rubber compounds are used in conveyor belts for underground mining. To that end, other suitable rubber compounds for use in conveyor belts are needed.
Accordingly, it would thus be desirable to provide a suitable non-halogenated rubber compound for use in conveyor belts for underground mining, such non-halogenated rubber compound being fire-resistant in accordance with MSHA standards and producing acceptable levels of toxicity and smoke upon burning.